


The AU Literally No-One Asked For

by bumblebutt



Category: Tokyo Ghoul
Genre: Basically a Prehistoric!AU?, F/F, I have zero clue where to go with it, It's not my favorite work, Like I watched the croods and it was rlly cute, M/M, SO, and I really hope u like it, and so i moved it to Google Docs and tried to fill it out, but its been sitting in my files forever and I might as well post it, but no 'the world is ending', i guess?, i've had the AU in my head for a while, on to tags, read the summary it works better than these tags, so like, so like that, so long that it was mostly written on my PHONE
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-07-03
Updated: 2016-07-03
Packaged: 2018-07-19 19:18:01
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,786
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/7374148
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/bumblebutt/pseuds/bumblebutt
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Kaneki has always lived with his family- His sisters; Touka and Rize, Hinami. Their leader, Yamori. A man who knows nothing but fear and hiding, who corrals them all into their cave every night. They're ghouls. Every waking day they prowl their territory for humans to eat. After a while, the humans begin to vanish. It's becoming harder and harder for a halfbreed like him to survive in this hostile ghoul's world.</p><p>One night, Kaneki finds a sun worth protecting.</p>
            </blockquote>





	The AU Literally No-One Asked For

**Author's Note:**

> Hey guys, thanks for reading. I will try to answer any and all questions in the comments, if you have them. I'm being presumptuous...I hope you like this snippet of my works that was sitting around.

Ghouls are quick and unexpected, Hide thinks. No sooner had his traveling companion- Shinichi, his name was- drawn something suspiciously sharp from his jacket a long red appendage erupted from his chest, as if his heart had made a break for the hills. The wicked-sharp red was covered in more red when Shinichi spat blood that became a river, splattering on the ground and Hide.   
  
Shinichi's slack face seemed shocked, to say the least, considering the long knife in his hand- having attempted to rob Hide of his food supplies. Hide would be pretty surprised too had their roles been reversed. The blunt weapon fell with a thunk   
  
_ Bastard got his due _ , Hide guesses.  _ But that still leaves me with the whatever just...killed him. _   
  
The limb is retracted, leaving Shinichi a messy, boneless heap on the long grass. The fronds of the grassy plain they were traveling waved red with the scattered fluid. A hand dipped, to grab something from inside the corpse, good  _ god _ , and pluck it like fruit, the squelching noise at it's removal provoking a nauseous groan from the watching blonde.    
  
Hide wasn't sure what  _ it  _ was, exactly, but yelped when the other long tentacle (how many  _ were _ there, anyways?) whipped out to hold him up, looping around his ankle and yanking. Hide splutered and cursed as the world tipped upside-down, and the figure, the ghoul, comes close, having just finished chewing on whatever had been pulled from his friend ('friend',  _ really _ .) Delicate fingers- unlike the rough talons supposed of Ghouls, brush over his face.   
  
"You...smell strange."    
  
Well, that's not what he was expecting from the beautiful, now that Hide had a proper look, boy in front of him.  The fingers, while pretty, dripped with gore, and smeared red over his forehead.    
  
"Ew, ew oh my god let's not do that-" another tentacle wound around his arms and flipped him over. The mysterious boy peered around the pulsing red limb to look at him, eyebrows furrowed.    
  
"Why not? Don't do what?" God, his voice  _ really _ was so  _ delicate _ and soft- nothing like what he expected a ghoul to sound like. You'd expect human flesh would make a voice rougher.    
  
"Ah, maybe the blood-"   
  
"The blood...oh, this..." At  _ this _ , he sucked his own fingers clean. It was incredibly disturbing and fascinating simultaneously. Hide's jaw dropped.    
  
"So, uh, are there any plans to eat me? Y'know, cuz I'm not super keen on the whole 'getting ripped to shreds' thing-" the angelic boys face remained impassive, but he looked a little surprised like he had just recalled something.    
  
"Oh, no. I mean-I don't want to." The statement was simplicit in its beauty. 

_ He wasn't going to be eaten. _   
  
Hide let a great breath out. It startled the pale being holding him in his ghoulish clutches. He could appreciate the ghoul's wide, silver rounded eyes and his shock of snowy hair. Hide had come from a land of snow. He wondered if this creature had ever seen snow.    
  
_ I want to show him... _ Hide thought to himself. He hummed. That still didn't explain, though-   
  
"Oh, say then. What uh, exactly is your plan for me? I mean, I'm pretty good either way, being let go or, uh, because-" Hide rambled on, unawares of the kagune tightening around him.    
  
"You're mine."   
  
...   
  
_ Eh _ ?   
  
"I'm, uh, not quite sure-I mean, what I'm saying is-" Hide spluttered, waving his arms in confusion. Red scaled appendages curled over his back to cup his face.   
  
"There's nothing to say." The ghoul said simply, tilting his head. It was apparent he saw nothing wrong with this statement. "I caught you, so you're mine. I won't eat you, though. I mean, unless I get really hungry, I guess." His face was really too cute to be saying stuff like that...!   
  
Hide sweatdropped. "I see..." He said, softly. The ghoul, taking this acknowledgement as some sort of cue, stood up, human in his kagune's hold, and trotted back towards his group.    
  
Hide was not looking forward to this whole situation. 

  
  
""""''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''

  
  
"You brought back a whole human, and a half! We haven't eaten this good in months!"  
  
"Good job, onii-san!"  
  
"Oya~ Kaneki-kun is such an excellent hunter. Don't you think so, Yamori-san?"  
  
"Hn. Be sure to gut it properly."  
  
Hide was having a hard time dealing with this. Kaneki had shifted him into a more appropriate carrying position- bridal style, namely. Not like the beautiful ghoul knew that or like he expected him to!  
  
Shortly after crossing plains for a good hour, he had scared Hide shitless by dropping off into a gully- literally walking off the edge, only to catch them both to a standstill using his kagune to wrap around an outcropping branch.   
  
Hide had gotten quite sick, his new warden commenting on how fragile humans are- looking thoughtfully at what little there had been in Hide's stomach.   
  
The cave- Hide couldn't really call it a cave, more of a yawning gap in a mountainside- contained not one but _four_ other ghouls to whom a few Kaneki regarded friendly-like, the others with blank stares.   
  
"-not eating him. He's _mine_. "  
  
Oh, right. That.   
  
" _Hah_? What the hell are you talking about? He's meat. We need as much as we can get!" The ghoul, Touka was her name, bristled on a ledge while shoving gore into her mouth. (Hide thought it rather crude manners but wisely did not comment) meanwhile, Kaneki's kagune flowered behind them. _Not really keen on diplomacy, ghouls, are they_? Hide gulped when her own kagune lazily extended without breaking her chewing and heated glare.   
  
"Touka-chan." The syllables were bitten out and held barely concealed venom,  "I am not sharing. Not with any of you." Here he shot an apologetic glance to the youngest ghoul- a little brunette girl mindfully nibbling on a finger- who looked surprised but not hurt. Touka considered him predatorily but did not move.   
  
A few terse moments. Hide thought it ridiculously scary.   
  
"Che. Stupid Kaneki. Don't fucking waste food, idiot." She snapped, whipping around. The other purple haired beauty- Hide thought her just a bit _too_ pretty- smirked.   
  
"Oh, my goodness. Ken has a little bit of a possessive streak. How ghoulish~" she teased. Kanekis lip curled slightly.   
  
_Well, I'm more like a piece of meat being fought over by wildcats, aren't I?_ __  
  
"He. Is. _M_ _ine_. if you'd like to contest me on it, there's no issue with having a dead ghoul for food instead of a human." The commentary challenge was lax, but the note of menace was unmistakeable. Rize's smile only widened.   
  
"Oh, _no_. I know better than to mess with a cranky half mutt and his toy~" she giggled. It creeped Hide out crazy. He gripped the bare arm of his new warden unconsciously- didn't catch the curious and slightly pleased look thrown his way by the half ghoul.   
  
Any rise she might have gotten out of Kaneki was smoothed over instantly by the human.   
  
Rize's eyes narrowed by the tiniest sliver.   
  
_Annoying._   
  
It was annoying, and spoiled her fun. Rize put her fun quite above anything else besides food. Definitely food. She popped an eyeball into her mouth irritably and chewed. She imagined it the blonde's head.   
  
Yeah, Hide was definitely not going anywhere near that chick.   
  
From his perch of Kaneki's thick, curling tails, Hide had a full view of the searing stare she was giving him.   
  
Uh uh. She was bad news. His fingers curled into the simple black fur of Kanekis tunic. The white haired boy drew two of his kagune to wrap around them both, another plucking some of the kill from Shinichi's corpse. The final red limb snaking around a stone ledge to pull up to and hang them from, possumlike. Hide was pressed hard to the (only a _little_ , he told himself grouchily) larger boy's chest. If his heart wasn't hammering a mile a minute, he would be revolted by the ghoul shoving a severed hand into his mouth and chewing hard. Hide winced when bones crunched so close to his face, cringing away from Kaneki out of reflex. Kaneki glanced at his turned away face with concern.  
  
"Human? Oi, human? What's the matter?" Kaneki asked softly, swallowing quickly (how fast do these ghouls chew?!) and mouthing Hide's arm to get his attention.   
  
"...Hide."  
  
Kaneki tilted his head. What? He wanted him to...hide? He was pretty sure it was pronounced 'hai-de' or something of the sort. He bit his lip. This human was so confusing. He nipped lightly on Hide's arm again so he would elaborate.   
  
"O-ouch! Hide! My _name_ -!"  
  
....  
  
Oh.   
  
What a strange name...Kaneki thought to himself. But it fit, strange as it was, enough. His new human had a habit of shying away. Ah, well. It sounded wonderful to him.   
  
"Hide..." He said wonderingly, to no one in particular. He let it roll off his tongue easily and practiced saying it a few times. The smell of blood alerted him to Hide's ears- now a bright red like his face. Was he sick? Humans are so fragile, he thought again, pressing his own forehead against that of Hide's, closing his eyes. This only worsened the smell of blood and the sound of a thundering heart.   
  
When Hide had sufficiently calmed down, Kaneki fed and comfortable with his dozing human curled in his arms, Kaneki felt a curious sort of contentment. He had never really wanted to own anything, much less something alive. Much less a human.   
  
The blonde slumbering in his grasp snorted lightly and shifted again in his arms. Arms that tightened until Hide whimpered, and loosened and fidgeted until Hide was comfortable again.   
  
Kaneki's whole body shifted strangely. He hardened on the edges, curling inward and softening to protect the fragile life in his arms. A life he, _Kaneki_ , was responsible for. He had yet to feel such a burning desire to protect something, __someone.   
  
Hinami, Touka-chan, the others that he rarely felt empathy towards- they weren't defenseless, not like this. Hide was his. He felt it in his core.   
  
He would never let this life go.   
  
Never. 

  
  


'''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''

 

  
Kaneki leaned back on his haunches, squared himself, and sent a glare straight at the pear cactus.    
  
_ Is this edible...? _ Kaneki thought, growled to himself. This was not an area of expertise to him, or any ghoul, rather. He nudged it with his kagune, wincing when a thorn poked his appendage.    
  
No. Not edible.    
  
He  _ would _ ask Hide, but the blonde slumbered in the grasp of his three other kagune, protected from the grassland-desert's boiling sun, and he felt uncompelled to wake his human. He was just...Kaneki struggled to find a word in his limited vocabulary.    
  
_ Adorable _ . It fit well, and was something he heard Hinami used when describing flowers. 

Hide was a flower. To him, at least. Kaneki tilted his head to look at the red blossoms on a rather tall cactus. The petals were light and airy, and dipped slightly in the wind.   
  
It was without thought that he reached with kagune to pluck them and nestle them in the fine gold upon his Hide's head, behind his ears, in the creases of Hide's clothes. In no time at all, Kaneki could find no more of the blossoms, so in disappointment he stood back up, turning back to the young man slumbering in is hold.   
  
Kaneki nodded to himself and ran lazy fingers over Hide's nose. Freckles dotted the tan skin like poppyseeds. He had tried them once before Yamori had admonished him about getting sick from eating human food. He had vomited promptly, obviously, all over his child's tunic of fur.    
  
Speaking of clothes- Hide's were ripped and dingy. Unacceptable. He would need new ones. He would get them personally. It was only right for him to provide for this new, golden responsibility.    
  
He could practically hear Touka's snickering at the idea of his childish obsession.    
  
A snorting caught his attention, rinkaku curling defensively should it be another ghoul and a low snarl rumbling in his chest.   
  
A large cat- lounging on a ledge of rock. Supposedly something humans hunted for its fur. Kaneki admired its honey coat that reminded him so much of his Hide.    
  
Mind made up, his kagune adjusted and cradled the human with two instead of three- the third lashing too quickly for sight to snap the cat's neck before the animal could yowl and wake Hide.    
  
Kaneki skinned it and continued on, now and then poking a random plant for edibility.

  
  
'''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''

  
It was around midday when his Hide awoke.    
  
The coming around was slow and accompanied by a few whines that had Kaneki checking him for discomfort only to be greeted by crinkled features and a most adorable grunt.    
  
"Mnnn-man, the ground hasn't ever felt so good-"    
  
Kaneki smiled.    
  
"Good afternoon, Hide."   
  
" _ W-wah-! _ "- **_thud_ **   
  
Kaneki turned quickly to the blonde who had rolled out of his grasp onto dirt- huffing when he realized where he was. The displaced flowers fell to the ground, though a few stubbornly remained as Hide scrambled to his feet.   
  
"K-kaneki! Didn't see you there, man. I just, uh..." Hide's face was that wonderful cherry red again. He worried for the health of his human often, Kaneki thought.    
  
Hide was reasonably embarrassed (being carried around all day like a kid, come  _ on _ .) and only blushed further with the routine snarling of his stomach.    
  
Kaneki, to Hide, looked incredibly alarmed. To ghouls, unawares to Hide, hunger that manifested in noise of the stomach was a dire thing. Since they fed few and far between, only once every two weeks for a hearty diet, usually, a stomach growling was indication that the owner was close to starvation.    
  
Hide, alarmed by Kanekis sudden severe expression, yelped with the sudden manhandling of his person. They were running, very fast, Hide would add if he was capable of speech, and with the look on the ghoul's face, he remained silent willingly until a sudden screeching stop.    
  
It took a few moments for Hide to realize where they were, exactly. A sheep bayed kindly by Hide's leg, chewing on the ripped cloth of his pants. A pasture...?   
  
Hide reached to stroke the animal, blissfully unaware of Kaneki's panicking, and was unwelcomely shocked when blood sprayed across the animals, letting out an un-maly yelp that was _ highly _ uncalled for and whipping around to find the source.   
  
Kaneki had neatly sliced off the head of an ewe, pulling various innards from her while Hide  _ gaped _ .  Kaneki pulled its heart out quickly and offered it to Hide.   
  
"Eat it."   
  
...!   
  
"...what?!"   
  
Kaneki looked very seriously intent on having him eat a sheep heart. A  _ sheep heart _ .    
  
"Kaneki, no! You can just eat a heart!" Hide looked distraught over his offering. Kaneki was bewildered. Did humans not eat animals?    
  
"You don't want it?"   
  
"No, I don't want to eat a heart! I mean, m-maybe the meat or something, dried, or-or cooked but not a  _ heart _ . A raw one at that!"   
  
Kaneki was now puzzled _ and _ panicked. Hide needed to eat! Cooked? How? (The concept of it was lost on Kaneki's ghoulish brain.)   
  
"Y-y'know, like,  _ fire _ !"   
  
"???"   
  
Kanekis confusion was damn near palpable. Hide had some explaining to do, apparently.    
  
''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''   
  
Kaneki returned with Hide that evening with a great deal of human rituals now engrained into his head for later use.    
  
According to Hide, after being calmed down by said human, stomach growling was not signaling imminent death (Kaneki was incredibly relieved) and that meat was to be burned over a heat source before consumption, among others.    
  
A perfectly good waste of flesh, according to Kaneki.    
  
It was this that found him crouching over a flame back in the den, Hide snoozing in Kaneki's corner of their alcove, safe and now with plenty of food. After watching him tan and string up the hide of the animal he had killed, Touka slid down from her usual perch to inspect his doings.    
  
"...You're burning meat?"   
  
"Yes."   
  
"...Okayyy, any reason why? It's kinda wasting food. And I'm not eatin' that shit." she remarked dryly. Kaneki rolled his eyes and turned the forearm again. It was turning golden brown, really, and Kaneki would be lying if he said it at least didn't _ look  _ nice.    
  
He took a bite of it experimentally and winced. It was gross- but not terribly so. The meat being hot also helped him swallow it- cold meat was less palatable than hot, he supposed. Hide had said something about it being healthier. He could live with it, if Hide thought it was good.    
  
He wondered when he started caring so much about humans. It was hard to see them as much else than dullwitted meat.    
  
Hide was different, he decided.    


**Author's Note:**

> Thank for making it down here, if you want I really love comments and it helps me with the courage to post more of this stuff! Thank you and I love you ALL!


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